Micronesia learns climate speak

Transcript

Countries in Micronesia are sharpening their negotiating skills ahead of the world climate change talks in Paris this December.

Senior officials from the Federated States of Micronesia, Palau and the Marshall Islands are in Pohnpei this week to learn from regional and international climate change experts as they prepare their country positions for Paris.

The workshop is funded by the German Government aid organisation GIZ and its programme director, Wulf Killmann says it is important for Pacific countries to present a united front at COP21if they are to stand a chance of getting something concrete out of the talks.

DR WULF KILLMANN: Here we are discussing now some of the details. You know there is a draft agreement on the table that is about 85 pages and there are quite a lot of contentious issues and quite a lot of questions and so we are discussing here a little bit some of these issues and how the Pacific countries could position themselves and take up a joint position there.

KOROI HAWKINS: And you are preparing these negotiators so I am assuming that they will have to negotiate.

DWK: Yes, the people who are here are actually the people who will go for these North Pacific countries to Paris. They are their climate change negotiators and so we assist them in preparing themselves. It is a preparatory meeting you could say.

KH: And why the separation, the North Pacific? I would think that for such a big negotiation with such big countries in the world you would want a larger group or a body maybe of the whole of the Pacific for example, as negotiating in one block.

DWK: Yeah, well there are number of, you know a number of these preparatory workshops. For example some organised with the assistance of the Australian government, with DFAT. There are some organised with the assistance of the British government and it is easier to discuss it in a small group. And the North Pacific countries they are, they have quite a lot of things that they have in common. There was, during the Pacific climate change round table which took place in May in Apia, Samoa there was a general preparation workshop which the process meanwhile is a bit further advanced you know. So this is building up on previous discussions. We are here in a process you know it's not a, you know it's a flowing current so to say.

KH: What do we need from Paris?

DWK: We need from Paris a binding agreement where not only the traditional emission rich countries like Europe and Japan and the USA and Canada and Australia but also the newcomers like India and China commit to a reduction in greenhouse gas emissions and not by the year 2080 but as soon as possible.